JAPANESE CHILDREN'S BOOKS 2020 - IBBY

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JAPANESE CHILDREN'S BOOKS 2020 - IBBY
J A PA N E S E B O A R D O N B O O K S F O R Y O U N G P E O P L E

Japanese        2020

Children's Books
JAPANESE CHILDREN'S BOOKS 2020 - IBBY
Cover illustration                                                                                                                                  2020
                                                                    Japanese Children's Books
Chiki KIKUCHI
Born in 1975 in Hokkaido. After working at a design
firm, he decided at age 33 to become a picture
                                                                    Contents
book artist. His book Shironeko kuroneko (White                     ● Book Selection Team.................................................................................................2
Cat, Black Cat; Gakken Plus) won a Golden Apple
                                                                    ● About JBBY and this Catalog................................................................................. 3
at the 2013 Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB),
and his book Momiji no tegami (Maple Leaf Letter;                   ● Recent Japanese Children's Books Recommended by JBBY....................... 4
Komine Shoten) won a plaque at the 2019 BIB. His
                                                                    ● The Hans Christian Andersen Award
other works include Boku da yo, boku da yo (It’s Me,
                                                                         Five winners and 12 nominees from Japan .........................................................20
It’s Me; Rironsha), Chikiban nyaa (Chiki Bang Meow;
Gakken Plus), Pa-o-po no uta (Pa-o-po Song; Kosei                   ● Japanese Books Selected for the IBBY Honour List ....................................22
Shuppan), Tora no ko Torata (Torata the Tiger Cub;
Shogakukan), and Shiro to kuro (White and Black;
                                                                    ● Essay: Children’s Literature as a Part of Japan’s Publishing Statistics........................ 24
Kodansha).                                                          ● Recent Translations into Japanese Recommended by JBBY.....................26

                                   JBBY Book Selection and Review Team
                  The JBBY Book Selection and Review Team collaboratively chose the titles listed in this
                  publication. The name in parentheses after each book description is the last name of the
                  team member who wrote the description.

                        Yasuko DOI
                        Director and senior researcher at the International Insti-                                   Yukiko HIROMATSU
                        tute for Children’s Literature (IICLO). Besides researching                                  Picture book author, critic, and curator. Her writings in
                        reading activities and the history of Japanese children’s                                    Japanese include the series Picture Books of Old Tales
                        literature, she plans projects such as training courses                                      for Now Vols. 1-11 (Iwasaki Shoten). Her translations
                        for teachers and librarians, as well as lectures and sym-                                    into Japanese include Run, Toto! by Eun-young Cho
                        posiums for children’s book authors from Japan and                                           (Bunka Shuppankyoku), winner of the Japan Picture Book
                        overseas. Coeditor of I Could Read by Myself!; Book Guide                                    Awards Translation Award, and A World of Your Own by
                        of 200 Books for Young Children (Hyoronsha) among oth-                                       Laura Carlin (BL Shuppan). She has sat on the jury of the
                        ers. Jury for the 2018 and 2020 Hans Christian Andersen                                      Bologna llustrators Exhibition, the Biennial of Illustrations
                        Awards. JBBY board member.                                                                   Bratislava, and the Nami Concours. Former chief curator
                                                                                                                     of Chihiro Art Museum, Tokyo. JBBY board member.
                        Akira NOGAMI
                        At Shogakukan, served as editor of First Grader monthly                                      Yumiko SAKUMA
                        magazine, head of children’s books, company director,                                        Translator, editor, reviewer of children’s books,
                        and finally president and CEO of Shogakukan Creative.                                        representative of the Japan-Africa Children’s Books
                        Taught children’s literature and culture at Shirayuri Uni-                                   Project (JACBOP), and former professor at Aoyama Gakuin
                        versity and Tokyo Seitoku University. His writings in Japa-                                  Women’s College. Her writings in Japanese include The
                        nese include To the Modern Children’s Literature of Japan                                    Cooking Stoves of Enzaro Village (Fukuinkan Shoten).
                        (Parorusha), Children’s Literature Crossing Borders (Na-                                     Her more than 250 translations of books from English to
                        gasaki Shuppan), and Contemporary History of Children’s                                      Japanese range from Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and the
                        Culture (Otsuki Shoten). Coeditor of When I Was a Child,                                     picture books of Maurice Sendak to Refugee by Alan Gratz.
                        There Was a War (Rironsha) among others. Managing                                            Her translation of Last Summer with Maizon by Jacqueline
                        director of Japan PEN Club. JBBY vice president.                                             Woodson made the IBBY Honour List. JBBY president.

                        Junko SHIOZAKI
                        Researcher, part-time lecturer at Keio University, and a
                        member of the steering committee of the Association of
                        Children’s Libraries (Jitoken). She obtained her PhD in Li-
                        brary and Information Science after working as a librarian                              For each selected title in this catalog, we provide the following:
                        in school and public libraries. She now researches chil-                                  Title in English
                        dren’s books and reading while also teaching theory of                                    (Title in Japanese/Title in Romanized Japanese)
                        children’s library service at multiple universities, educat-                              Author/Illustrator | Publisher | Publication Year | Number of
                        ing future librarians. Her publications include The History                               Pages | Trim Size | ISBN | Target Age | Keywords
                        of Library Services to Children—Development of Public                                     Basic Book Description (Last Name of Reviewer)
                        Library Services to Children in Postwar Japan (Sogensha).
                        JBBY board member.
Japanese Children's Books

About JBBY and This Catalog

The Japanese Board on Books for Young People (JBBY) was founded in 1974
as the Japanese Section of the International Board on Books for Young Peo-
ple (IBBY).

JBBY is dedicated to enhancing international understanding, and to providing
information on children’s books to people around the world. We promote
IBBY’s mission in a broad range of ways. Our international network allows us
to take advantage of the prolific information generated by IBBY and to en-
courage mutual understanding. Our mission is to create a peaceful future for
children worldwide through books.

JBBY hosts international book exhibitions in Japan that provide information    Cover illustration © Chiki Kikuchi

about global titles to Japanese readers. In addition, we provide information
on Japanese children’s books to people around the world. We nominate titles
for international recognition, as a means to deepen global understanding to-
wards Japan.

In this catalog, we provide information about recent Japanese books rec-
ommended by a JBBY book selection and Review team in several catego-
ries: picture books, chapter books and novels, and nonfiction. In addition,
we introduce Japanese winners of and nominees for the Hans Christian
Andersen Award; books selected for the IBBY Honour List from Japan; and
recent translations into Japanese recommended by JBBY.

We list the recent Japanese books by category and in order of target age,
including cover images and synopses along with bibliographic information.
We hope you will enjoy reading about these books. For further information,
please contact us: info@jbby.org

                                           Yumiko SAKUMA, JBBY President
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        Recent
        Picture
        Books
                                                                          Let's Search for a Cool Place                                        The Snail Taxi
                                                                      (あついあつい/ Atsui atsui)                                                (かたつむりタクシー/ Katatsumuri takushii)
                                                                          Text/Illus. Taruishi, Mako | Fukuinkan Shoten | 2019 | 24            Text/Illus. Tamura, Shigeru | Fukuinkan Shoten | 2018 | 24
                                                                          pp. | 22 x 21 cm | ISBN 9784834084610 | Ages 0+ | Pen-               pp. | 22 x 21 cm | ISBN 9784834084160 | Ages 2+ | Ant,
                                                                          guins, Seals, Hippopotamus, Elephants                                Snail, Taxi, Family

                                                                          A penguin trots around sweating heavily and                          A young ant’s mother sees him and his father off
                                                                          complaining, “It’s too hot!” Finally he finds a cool,                from their fruit candy tin home as they go to his
                                                                          shady spot, but then realizes it’s in the shadow of                  grandmother’s house. It starts to rain, so they take a
                                                                          the seal’s body. So now the two of them go around                    snail taxi and enjoy the ride to Rocking Horse Park.
                                                                          looking for somewhere cool, and gain more friends                    Father and son enjoy the landscapes as the taxi
                                                                          along the way as the hippopotamus and the el-                        climbs a mountain, crosses over on the underside of
                                                                          ephant join them in their search for a somewhere                     a bridge, and passes through a pond. Along the way
                                                                          else cool. And eventually they reach the big wide                    they drink some juice at a juice stand, and eventu-
                                                                          ocean! As you turn the pages, children can guess                     ally arrive safely at Granny’s house. It is interesting
                                                                          which animal will appear next, and enjoy the rhythm                  to see the world from the perspective of an ant, and
                                                                          of the words that are repeated. This is a cheerful                   fun to see how insects use leaves and mushrooms
                                                                          picture book with a bright yellow background, and                    as umbrellas, and how they devise ways to convert
                                                                          amusing pictures of the animals who are so hot they                  bottles and flowerpots into their homes. (Doi)
                                                                          can’t stand it. (Shiozaki)

    3                                                                 4                                                                    5

        Granny Bo-Peep                                                    Little Shadow                                                        Maple Leaf Letter
    (いないいないばあさん/ IInai inai baa-san)                                  (くろいの/ Kuroi no)                                                     (もみじのてがみ/ Momiji no tegami)
        Text/Illus. Sasaki, Maki | Kaiseisha | 2019 | 32 pp. | 24 x       Text/Illus. Tanaka, Kiyo | Kaiseisha | 2018 | 64 pp. | 19 x 23       Text/Illus. Kikuchi, Chiki | Komine Shoten | 2018 | 32 pp.
        19 cm | ISBN 9784032326000 | Ages 3+ | Grandmothers,              cm | ISBN 9784033328805 | Ages 3+ | Girls, Imaginary                 | 23 x 31 cm | ISBN 9784338261326 | Ages 3+ | Maple
        Nonsense, Hide-and-seek                                           creatures, Attics                                                    leaves, Animals, Winter preparations, Letters

        This picture book is about a boy who goes for walks               On her walk home, a little girl encounters the small,                A thrush brings a mouse a letter from beyond the
        with his granny, but she keeps suddenly disappear-                completely black Little Shadow, which no one else                    mountains. Consisting of a single maple leaf, this
        ing and reappearing somewhere totally unexpected.                 can see. One day, the girl works up her courage and                  letter brings tidings of winter. The mouse, gathering
        His granny pretends to be a mannequin in a show                   talks to Little Shadow, and it leads her down a lane                 the squirrel and brown-eared bulbul, goes in search
        window, hides under a bridge and jumps out at                     and through a wall to a house. An adventure all their                of maple leaves on the mountain where they live. At
        him, poses on top of a statue in the park, hangs                  own begins, as the two climb from a storeroom into                   first, when they see something red, it turns out to be
        upside down behind the stairs, stands on top of a                 an attic room, where a mysterious play space awaits.                 a mushroom or a camellia. But before long, a pure
        chimney, and suddenly appears out of a snowman.                   This 64-page picture book is illustrated entirely with               red scene of maple leaves spreads before them. The
        The pictures of the chubby granny as she goes to                  copperplate etchings. Detail and the black tone                      expansive, free illustration style brings the animal
        extraordinary lengths to surprise her grandson are                stimulate the senses, lending wonder to a pool of                    characters to life. Watercolor paintings with bleed
        amusing, and it’s fun to see the boy wide-eyed as                 sunlight on the porch; a shadow in the storeroom;                    and blur, involving a limited palette, make the reds
        he is continually being surprised. (Doi)                          plants. Even the smell of the old house is evoked.                   stand out. A 2019 Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava
                                                                          Winner of the Nami Concours Purple Island Prize                      plaque winner, this book’s covers and endpapers
                                                                          and Shogakukan Children’s Book Award. (Hiromatsu)                    also deserve close attention. (Hiromatsu)

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Recent Picture Books

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    The Mirage Picture Book                                             The Ororon Parade                                                   Peace and War
(まぼろしえほん/ Maboroshi ehon)                                           (おろろん おろろん/ Ororon ororon)                                          (へいわとせんそう/ Heiwa to senso)
    Text/Illus. Inoue, Yosuke | Suzuki Shuppan | 2018 | 28 pp. |        Text/Illus. Ishiguro, Ayako | Kaiseisha | 2019 | 32 pp. | 19        Text: Tanikawa, Shuntaro | Illus. Noritake | Bronze Publish-
    27 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784790253631 | Ages 3+ | Nonsense                x 24 cm | ISBN 9784033520803 | Ages 3+ | Monsters, Pa-              ing | 2019 | 32 pp. | 19 x 19 cm | ISBN 9784893096579 |
                                                                        rade, Parents and children                                          Ages 3+ | Peace, War

    Each page of this nonsense picture book begins                      This picture book is inspired by a sixteenth-century                As a teenager, the author was forced to flee from
    with the words “Nobody knows but...” and follows                    illustrated scroll called Night Parade of the One                   fire bombs during World War II, at which time he
    up with startling revelations of strange things hu-                 Hundred Demons. Here the parade of monsters                         saw countless corpses. In this book, however, he
    mans don’t realize, such as the moon really being a                 and spirits is called Ororon. On the night of a red                 neither shares those painful experiences nor talks
    light bulb or a bear sleeping in a train. When a road               moon, the parent monsters and spirits go out for                    about peace in abstract terms. Instead, he takes
    is rolled up and taken away, the reader is left pon-                the Ororon Parade. Left behind at home, the chil-                   familiar things and actions that we take for granted
                                                                                                                                            and juxtaposes what they look like during a time
    dering what a road really is, while the image of a                  dren decide to do their own Ororon Parade. They
                                                                                                                                            of peace and a time of war. The book begins with
    dog walking a human makes the reader reconsider                     call together their friends, sing and dance, make
                                                                                                                                            a child (me at peace, me at war) and progresses
    the relationship between animals and humans. The                    strange faces, and practice music. They start out in                through a father, a mother, a family, a tool of peace
    allegorical illustrations are drawn with a warm touch               high spirits, but after a while they lose their way and             (a pencil) and a tool of war (a gun), as well as such
    and capture the humorous gap between the unique                     become discouraged and uneasy. They are begin-                      things as a queue, a tree, the sea, a town, night, and
    reality imagined here and the reality we know. (Doi)                ning to feel really scared when they have a pleasant                a cloud. Except for the mushroom cloud rising from
                                                                        surprise. It is a slightly scary but delightful book by             the atomic bomb, which is a photo, the pages are
                                                                        an author known for painting pictures of monsters.                  illustrated with simple black-and-white drawings. In
                                                                        (Sakuma)                                                            the last spread, “a baby on our side” and “an enemy
                                                                                                                                            baby,” the pictures are identical. (Sakuma)

9                                                                  10                                                                  11

    The Pea-sized Boy Patufet:                                          Turning on a Flashlight                                             Undies People
    A Folktale from Catalonia, Spain                                (かいちゅうでんとう/ Kaichu dento)                                           (ぱんつさん/ Pantsu-san)
(まめつぶこぞうパトゥフェ/ Mametsubu kozo Patoufe)                                  Text/Illus. Miyakoshi, Akiko | Fukuinkan Shoten | 2018 | 24         Text/Illus. Tanaka, Hikaru | Poplar | 2019 | 36 pp. | 31 x 22
    Text: Uno, Kazumi | Illus. Sasameya, Yuki | BL Shuppan |            pp. | 23 x 21 cm | ISBN 9784834084191 | Ages 3+ | Flash-            cm | ISBN 9784591160497 | Ages 3+ | Underpants, Big,
    2018 | 32 pp. | 29 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784776408628 | Ages              light, Night, Shadow, Science                                       Small, People
    3+ | Folktale, Cow, Fart, Errand

    Patufet is an active little boy who tries to do every-              I’m never scared in my room at night, even when                     Clay figures emerge from the mud wearing colorful
    thing even though he is pea-sized. When his mother                  it gets dark. I switch on my flashlight, and start ex-              undies. A giant hand appears and grasps a clay fig-
    asks him to go and buy some saffron, he success-                    ploring with my older brother. When I shine it on                   ure. The picture zooms out and we see that the man
    fully fulfills his mission. To make sure no one steps               the wall, the light is round. If I go closer to the wall,           to whom the hand belongs is also a man wearing
    on him, he sings “Patan, patine, paton” the whole                   the circle of light gets smaller. Light and shadows                 undies. He uses the figure to open a bottle and take
                                                                                                                                            a drink. The picture zooms out again, and an even
    way there. When he goes to take lunch to his father,                dance, and the room I thought I knew really well
                                                                                                                                            larger man is stringing the man taking a drink on a
    however, it begins to rain. Patufet shelters under a                always looks completely different. Can you catch
                                                                                                                                            chain as a pendant and fastening the pendant to his
    cabbage leaf, but is swallowed by a cow that eats                   light? How far does light go? This picture book
                                                                                                                                            girlfriend’s neck. The picture zooms out again and
    the cabbage. What does he do? The resourceful boy                   is mostly black and white, capturing the contrast                   the man and his girlfriend are being hung by their
    sings loudly inside the cow’s stomach so that his                   between light and dark with a soft touch, making it                 undies on the clothesline to dry by an even bigger
    parents can find him and leaps out when the cow                     easy for small children to understand the fascination               woman dressed in undies. A sudden shower falls,
    farts. The illustrations and text are fun and enter-                of light. (Shiozaki)                                                and when it stops, we see that this whole world fits
    taining. (Sakuma)                                                                                                                       under the hand of a little girl playing in a sandbox.
                                                                                                                                            A nonsense book that challenges the reader’s sense
                                                                                                                                            of scale as absurd figures wearing undies grow ever
                                                                                                                                            larger from one page to the next. (Nogami)

                                                                                                                                                                                                            5
12                                                               13                                                                 14

         Gorobe in the Land of Mononoke                                   A Japanese Summer                                                  The King of Circles
     (ごろべえ もののけのくにへいく/ Gorobe monoke no                                   (なっちゃんの なつ/ Nacchan no natsu)                                  (まるのおうさま/ Maru no osama)
     kuni e iku)                                                          Text: Ito, Hiromi | Illus. Katayama, Ken | Fukuinkan Shoten        Text: Tanikawa, Shuntaro | Illus. Awazu, Kiyoshi | Fukuinkan
         Text/Illus. Otomo, Yasuo | Doshinsha | 2018 | 32 pp. | 21        | 2019 | 28 pp. | 26 x 23 cm | ISBN 9784834084665 | Ages           Shoten | 2019 | 24 pp. | 26 x 23 cm | ISBN 9784834084535
         x 23 cm | ISBN 9784494016297 | Ages 4+ | Mononoke,               4+ | Summer, Nature, Life, Senses                                  | Ages 4+ | Circle, King, Nonsense
         Samurai, Wit stories, Folklore

         Long ago, there lived the strongest samurai in all               O-Bon is a Japanese summer ritual of honor-                        The plate says, “I’m the roundest thing in the world.
         Japan: Gorobe. He wanted to experience fear, an                  ing one’s ancestors. On the day of O-Bon, a little                 I am the king of circles.” No sooner have the words
         emotion he had never felt. On the advice of a Bud-               girl named Nacchan goes alone to the riverbank,                    left his mouth than he falls from the shelf and
         dhist temple’s head priest, he journeyed to the land             encountering plants and creatures. The kudzu                       shatters. A pair of cymbals laughs and declares
         of mononoke (evil spirits). But though he happened               vine tickles her heel so she laughs. The sunflower                 that he’s the true king of circles. But as soon as he
         upon a mononoke banquet, and a giant monster                     watches her with its round eye, seeming unwell                     says so, he is crushed by a bouncing, rolling wheel.
         tried everything to scare him, he merely felt amazed             today. From the shadows, Nacchan watches a grey                    Many others, including a compass, an orange, and
         or amused. Then, when he returned to the temple, a               heron move, sips some salvia nectar, and uses a four               a record claim to be king. Finally, the Earth declares
         young monk offered to teach him fear. This folktale-             o’clock flower to paint her fingernails and nose. The              that they do not need a king of circles. He points
         like story of studying fear resembles some of the                reader shares in her enjoyment of the wind through                 out that there are countless stars in the universe
         Grimms’ fairy tales. The ending has a witty twist                the grasses, the discomfort of a mosquito bite, the                that are even bigger than the sun. The last page
         that leaves the courtly, tenderhearted Gorobe—and                loneliness of seeing a dead cicada fall. Prose poem-               encourages readers to draw their own circles,
         readers—shuddering. (Hiromatsu)                                  like writing and watercolor illustrations stimulate the            concluding with a graceful brush-drawn circle in
                                                                          senses as well as the emotions. This book portrays                 black ink. The creative design and bright colors
                                                                          a full summer day when life and death intertwine.                  transmit the beauty, mystery and freedom of circles.
                                                                          (Hiromatsu)                                                        (Doi)

    15                                                               16                                                                 17

         Little Frogs Play Hide-and-Seek                                  I’ve Started Playing Japanese Chess                                Let Me Tell You a Long Story
     (あまがえるのかくれんぼ/ Amagaeru no kakurenbo)                                 (しょうぎ はじめました/ Shogi hajimemashita)                             (なんげえはなしっこ しかへがな/ Nange hanashikko
         Text: Tateno, Hiroshi | Illus. Kawashima, Haruko | Sekai         Text: Mabe, Kayo | Illus. Tanaka, Rokudai | Bunken Shup-       shikahegana)
         Bunkasha | 2019 | 24 pp. | 27 x 24 cm | ISBN 978441819-          pan | 2019 | 32 pp. | 27 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784580823471 |            Text: Kita, Shosuke | Illus. Ota, Daihachi | BL Shuppan |
         8085 | Ages 4+ | Tree frogs, Camouflage, Hide-and-seek           Ages 5+ | Shogi, Traditional games, Board games, Grand-            2018 | 32 pp. | 31 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784776408819 | Ages
                                                                          fathers                                                            5+ | Folktale, Endless story, Aomori

         Three frog children are playing hide-and-seek in                 Shogi, often called Japanese chess, is a traditional               Narrated in the Tsugaru dialect of Aomori in north-
         the grass, when all of a sudden one of them turns                board game played by two people. In this book, the                 ern Japan, the book begins with the phrase “Let me
         brown. The other two wash and scrub him, but his                 main character learns to play shogi at after-school                tell you a long story.” The author relates many long
         color remains stubbornly brown. They are wonder-                 recreation, but he always loses games to older stu-                tales such as that of a crow that cawed each time
         ing why when suddenly a heron swoops down from                   dents or his father. When summer comes, he goes                    a chestnut fell from a tree until the very last nut
         the sky. The shocked frogs freeze, and the heron                 to stay with his grandfather, an excellent shogi play-             fell after a year and three days, a singing contest
         moves away without noticing them. Through a fun                  er, and asks him for lessons. Even readers who have                between a cicada and a turtledove, a snake who
         story, this picture book informs the readers how                 not played shogi will be able to follow their story                came out of a hole, a carpenter bee who flew out
         as frogs grow, their bodies change color to blend                and absorb shogi rules, beginner practice methods,                 of a storehouse, kappa children who dived one by
         in with their surroundings. The illustrator spent a              and winning strategies. While the book conveys the                 one into the water, and the loincloth of the thunder
         number of years watching tree frogs breed, and her               fun of shogi, it also shows with warmth the interac-               god. In the last story, a monk chants “Tagazugu,
         illustrations accurately capture the actions of the              tions between generations of a family. The cover                   tagazugu” to make a hag grow until she reaches the
         frogs. It is also fun discovering the other small crea-          and back cover turn into shogi pieces and a board,                 clouds. The unusual northern dialect along with the
         tures. (Sakuma)                                                  letting readers play right away! (Hiromatsu)                       Japanese-style illustrations make this book endless
                                                                                                                                             fun. (Doi)

6
Recent Picture Books

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     Mitsu                                                           Mr. Octopus Comes to My House                                        Animal ABC Picture Book
 (ミツ/ Mitsu)                                                     (タコやん/ Tako-yan)                                                     (どうぶつ ABC えほん/ Dobutsu ABC ehon)
     Text/Illus. Nakano, Masanori | Kosei Shuppansha | 2019          Text: Tomiyasu, Yoko | Illus. Minami, Shinbo | Fukuinkan             Text: Yasue, Rie | Illus. Furiya, Nana | Nora Shoten | 2019
     | 32 pp. | 23 x 25 cm | ISBN 9784333028009 | Ages 5+ |          Shoten | 2019 | 32 pp. | 26 x 24 cm | ISBN 9784834084658             | 56 pp. | 18 x 19 cm | ISBN 9784905015437 | Ages 6+ |
     Cats, Life, Death, Nature                                       | Ages 5+ | Octopus, Friends, Play                                   ABC, Picture books, Animals, Word games, English

     The author takes his cat, Mitsu, for a walk in a spring         One day, Mr. Octopus comes over to Sho-chan’s                        An illustrated ABC book that introduces animals and
     field. Mitsu is dying, and the fresh brightness of              house wanting to play. Sho-chan is hesitant, but Mr.                 other things familiar to children from A to Z in both
     the yellow daffodils is the author’s final gift for his         Octopus turns out to be good at video games, soc-                    English and Japanese. Using humorous characters,
     beloved pet. The author holds Mitsu, who is now                 cer, and hide-and-seek. Everyone is impressed and                    such as an alligator, an albatross, and an anteater,
     as light as a ball of fluff, through the dark and rainy         praises him, but he is quite bashful. In the evening,                and crisp, rhythmic sentences such as “An alliga-
     night. At dawn, Mitsu closes his eyes as though                 Mr. Octopus goes back to the sea waving one of his                   tor ate an apple,” the book entices readers into the
     squinting against the spring sunshine. The lives of             eight legs. The exchanges between Mr. Octopus and                    world of words. Children can piece together each
     all the little animals in the field full of dandelions          the children are full of humor. A delightful picture                 story as they discover many words and intrigu-
     are portrayed in colorful detail as if in celebration of        book by an author nominated for the 2020 Hans                        ing things in the colorful and detailed illustrations.
     Mitsu’s life. On the last page, Mitsu smiles. The gen-          Christian Andersen Award, who is an illustrator as                   (Shiozaki)
     tle language and illustrations portray the departure            well as editor and essayist. (Shiozaki)
     of a little life from this world, profoundly touching
     the heart. (Nogami)

21                                                              22                                                                   23

     A Big Festival on a Small Island                                The Day The Lions Saw the Wind                                    Golden Bird: A Tale from Bulgaria
 (ちいさな島の おおきな祭り/ Chisana shima no okina                          (ライオンの 風をみたいちにち/ Raion no kaze wo mita                               (金の星/ Kin no tori)
 matsuri)                                                        ichinichi)                                                               Text: Yaoita, Yoko | Illus. Sakata, Kiyoko | BL Shuppan |
     Text/Illus. Hamada, Keiko | Shin Nihon Shuppansha | 2019        Text/Illus. Abe, Hiroshi | Kosei Shuppansha | 2018 | 32 pp. |        2018 | 40 pp. | 29 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784776408635 | Ages
     | 32 pp. | 27 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784406063531 | Ages 6+ |          23 x 25 cm | ISBN 9784333027828 | Ages 6+ | Lion, Wind,              6+ | Folktales, Bulgaria, Adventure, Illusion
     Island, Festival, Gods, Seeds                                   Africa

     The small island of Taketomijima, with its 9-kilom-             A father lion with a mane like fire takes his five                   A Japanese illustrator and author takes on a once-
     eter circumference covered in white coral sand, is              children for a walk through the African savanna to                   upon-a-time story from Bulgaria. A king orders
     in Okinawa on the westernmost tip of Japan. Every               “see the wind.” Scattered across the broad pano-                     three princes to go in search of a golden bird. The
     October, the Tanedori Festival is held to pray for              rama of the plain are many kinds of animals. The                     two older princes prove lazy and selfish, but the
     the prosperity of the islanders’ descendants and for            short manes of the giraffes flicker in the wind. A                   youngest prince proves honest and intelligent.
     abundant harvests. The time-honored preparations                family of warthogs marches through the tall grass,                   Stumbling at times due to temptations, he nonethe-
     for this traditional festival, along with various unu-          holding their tails high. A black rhinoceros stands                  less overcomes obstacles due to magical elements
     sual Shinto rituals and a sacred play, are portrayed            like a black stone in a sea of grass. The magnificent                such as a flying horse and a fine bridal garment
     in bright colors from the perspective of a six-year-            savanna and the animals that live there are depicted                 tucked in a chestnut shell. East and west combine in
     old girl who will appear for the first time in the play         in bold brush strokes, and the dynamic images                        this tale from a country with complex ethnic history.
     performed on the last day of the festival as an of-             vividly convey the atmosphere of the wild kingdom                    Ms. Sakata debuted as a picture book illustrator in
     fering to the island gods. The detailed descriptions            and the movement of the wind. (Nogami)                               Europe, but this title came out first in Japan. The re-
     of this festival, which has developed over 600 years                                                                                 fined use of color, bold composition, and exquisite
     against a background of nature where it is always                                                                                    detail draw readers into the adventure. (Hiromatsu)
     summer, will also be of interest to cultural anthro-
     pologists. (Nogami)

                                                                                                                                                                                                        7
24                                                                  25                                                                   26

         I Dream of a Journey                                                It’s New Year!                                                       Konton
     (ぼくのたび/ Boku no tabi)                                               (お正月がやってくる/ O-Shogatsu ga yatte kuru)                                (こんとん/ Konton)
         Text/Illus. Miyakoshi, Akiko | Bronze Publishing | 2018 | 32        Text/Illus. Akiyama, Tomoko | Poplar | 2018 | 32 pp. | 24 x          Text: Yumemakura, Baku | Illus. Matsumoto, Taiyo | Kaisei-
         pp. | 28 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784893096470 | Ages 6+ | Travel,           27 cm | ISBN 9784591160657 | Ages 6+ | New Year, New                 sha | 2019 | 40 pp. | 27 x 19 cm | ISBN 9784033328904 |
         Hotels, Letters, Animals                                            Year’s Eve, Lion dance                                               Ages 6+ | Chaos, Chinese legend, Imaginary creatures

         The main character in this book manages a hotel in                  This picture book portrays traditional Japanese                      This picture book is never simply funny or sad. Its
         a small town. Every day, he welcomes guests from                    New Year customs. The protagonist is Naoko, who                      theme is konton—chaos!—and it grew from the
         around the world and listens to their stories. After                lives in a modern city where her husband manages                     Chinese legend of a mysterious monster. Having no
         work, when he climbs into bed, the wish to travel                   a construction firm. As the year draws to a close,                   name, the monster is no one. Since the monster is
         wells up inside him. Never having left town before,                 they buy a special lucky rake from a shrine fair, and                no one, it can be anything. Wait, it has ears but can’t
         he travels to unknown places in his dreams. Then,                   then some materials for New Year decorations at                      hear? No, it has no ears, eyes, or mouth! But Konton
         a letter from a former hotel guest arrives, further                 Asakusa’s Gasa-ichi fair. They use these materials to                is always looking up at the sky and laughing! This
         stirring his desire to visit guests around the world.               make traditional decorations, which they sell to lo-                 collaboration between a well-known novelist and
         The illustrations, by an artist who ardently loves                  cal people. When they’ve finished that, their family                 manga artist exudes chaos in every way—with its
         travel, are all lithographs. The softly layered, beauti-            thoroughly cleans their house from top to bottom,                    text, illustrations, and even binding and printing.
         ful colors draw readers into the hero’s imaginary                   she prepares the special New Year’s food, and on                     If read repeatedly, however, with an openness to
                                                                             New Year’s Eve they eat buckwheat noodles as they
         journey. This is the latest work by internationally                                                                                      the unknown, it gradually imparts joy, sadness, and
                                                                             see in the New Year. And once the New Year has
         renowned illustrator Akiko Miyakoshi, recognized at                                                                                      beauty. (Hiromatsu)
                                                                             started, in order to chase out bad luck, Naoko’s hus-
         the Bologna Ragazzi Awards and by The New York
                                                                             band and others put on the Lion Mask and dance
         Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Chil-
                                                                             to the accompaniment of drums and flutes as they
         dren’s Book Awards. (Hiromatsu)
                                                                             go around the neighbourhood wishing everyone a
                                                                             Happy New Year. (Sakuma)
    27                                                                  28                                                                   29

         Yamashita Doesn’t Speak                                             The Boy of Yanbaru                                                   The Imaginary Museum of Fossils
         ( や ま し た く ん は し ゃ べ ら な い / Yamashita-kun wa                  (やんばるの少年/ Yanbaru no shonen)                                         (空想化石はくぶつかん/ Kuso kaseki hakubutsukan)
         shaberanai)                                                         Text/Illus. Tajima, Yukihiko | Doshinsha | 2019 | 40 pp. | 25        Text/Illus. Mori, Yoko | Josai University Publishing | 2018 |
         Text: Yamashita, Kenji | Illus. Nakada, Ikumi | Iwasaki Sho-        x 26 cm | ISBN 9784494012459 | Ages 8+ | Forest, Nature,             48 pp. | 31 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784907630591 | Ages 8+ | Fos-
         ten | 2018 | 32 pp. | 28 x 22 cm | ISBN 9784265086436 |             War, Osprey                                                          sils, Museums, Prehistoric life, Imagination
         Ages 6+ | Classmates, School life, Individuality, Voice

         The narrator of this book has a classmate named                     The word yanbaru refers to the original forest that                  A young girl finds herself in a museum of mysteri-
         Yamashita, whose voice no one has heard. Yamash-                    covers the northern part of Okinawa island, the                      ous fossils. The bones of a great dinosaur speak: “We
         ita makes mischief in class without speaking, and                   westernmost part of Japan. It is a treasure trove                    have been waiting for you! Imagine us when we
         at the choir competition, he only lip-syncs. Shortly                of rare animal and bird species threatened with                      were alive, will you?” As the girl imagines, the fossils
         before elementary school graduation, on a parent                    extinction. To the children in this story, the forest is             of an extinct species of coelacanth, the winged di-
         observation day, Yamashita is due to present an                     a natural playground where they climb trees, jump                    nosaur Anchiornis, and other creatures from millions
         essay. He brings a cassette recorder into the class-                into the river, and fish. But the great trees are to                 of years ago come alive, take on skin and color, and
         room and plays a recording of his voice. The author                 be felled to build an American air force base for                    move! Inventory from the Oishi Fossils Gallery of
         himself did not speak throughout the nine years                     Ospreys. Local men and women protest by blocking                     Mizuta Memorial Museum, Tokyo, was used as the
         of preschool and elementary school, and he based                    the road to stop the bulldozers. The powerful illus-                 basis for creating this picture book. Realistic pencil
         this book on an episode in his life. Written from the               trations convey from a child’s perspective the cru-                  drawings lead one to ponder how life on Earth has
         point-of-view of a girl classmate, the book shows                   elty of razing this bountiful forest to build a military             miraculously continued for such a long time. The
         Yamashita’s individuality and growth. The illustrator,              base. (Nogami)                                                       end-matter includes a fossil guide. (Hiromatsu)
         also a manga artist, created facial expressions that
         convey nuanced emotional changes. (Hiromatsu)

8
Recent Chapter Books and Novels

                                                                                                 30                             A Forgetful Granny

     Recent
                                                                                                                               (おばあちゃんのわすれもの/ Obaachan no wasuremono)
                                                                                                                                Moriyama, Miyako | Illus. 100%ORANGE | Nora Shoten |
                                                                                                                                2018 | 56 pp. | 22 x 16 cm | ISBN 9784905015420 | Ages 5+ |

     Chapter
                                                                                                                                Granny, Bus, Shopping, Forgetfulness

     Books
                                                                                                                                  Tonta the piglet loves riding on public transport. When
                                                                                                                                  his granny has to go to the hospital in town to have
                                                                                                                                  her knees treated, he goes with her since it means he

     and Novels
                                                                                                                                  can go on the bus, and also she’ll stop at a café on the
                                                                                                      way home and treat him to an ice cream. After her knees has been examined,
                                                                                                      Granny goes to the local shopping street to buy lots of things for the family.
                                                                                                      Tonta squeezes all of her purchases into her large rucksack. He hates walking
                                                                                                      around town with her carrying the rucksack since he thinks it looks uncool, but
                                                                                                      that’s all part of the outing and he has to put up with it.
                                                                                                         Having been to the café and finished all the shopping, they are on their way
                                                                                                      to catch the bus home when Granny realizes that she has lost her walking stick
                                                                                                      somewhere along the way. Tonta runs around the town going to all the shops
                                                                                                      they visited. He eventually finds the stick in the hospital they’d been to first,
                                                                                                      and the doctor tells him that if Granny had forgotten all about the stick after
                                                                                                      leaving the hospital, then her knees must be healed. Tonta is so tired after all
                                                                                                      the running around that he has a nap on the bus on the way home. The final
                                                                                                      amusing twist is that Tonta belatedly remembers that he was supposed to meet
                                                                                                      his friend that day.
                                                                                                          This is a fun book for children, as all the animals living in the town are hu-
                                                                                                      morously and amusingly depicted, and it conveys the heartwarming bond be-
                                                                                                      tween Tonta and his Granny. (Nogami)

31                             Kai and Tim’s Nighttime Adventures                                32                            Kururu and Kororo
                             (カイとティムよるのぼうけん/ Kai to Timu yoru no boken)                                                       (クルルちゃんとコロロちゃん/ Kururuchan to Kororochan)
                               Ishii, Mutsumi | Illus. Sasameya, Yuki | Alice-kan | 2019 | 144                                 Matsumoto, Satomi | Illus. Hirasawa, Tomoko | Shuppan
                               pp. | 22 x 17 cm | ISBN 9784752008613 | Ages 5+ | Night,                                        Works | 2018 | 80 pp. | 22 x 16 cm | ISBN 9784907108281 |
                               Dinosaurs, Ghosts, Vehicles, Playing Cards                                                      Ages 6+ | Friends, Length, Rulers, Addition, Body

                                 It’s Kai’s sixth birthday. His Mom and Dad give him a                                          Kururu is tall with round glasses while Kororo is plump
                                 soft-toy Tyrannosaurus, while Granny and Grandpa’s                                             with pigtails. Although they are the same age and go to
                                 present is a picture book about dinosaurs. Kai’s Mom                                           the same elementary school, Kururu and Kororo tend
                                 keeps telling him that now he’s six he’s a big boy, so                                         to avoid each other because they are very different in
     he declares that from now on he will sleep alone. After his Mom has turned out                   appearance and personality.
     the lights and left his room, he suddenly gets anxious, and sees a small ghost in                    One sunny day, however, they bump into each other at the park and buy a
     the dimness.                                                                                     rainbow-colored ribbon from a peddler. They run into another peddler who
        “Who are you?” he asks. “Tim,” comes the answer. Kai thinks his toy tyran-                    sells rulers and measures the distance from the tips of their thumbs to the tips
     nosaurus must have spoken, so he asks it, “Tyra, can you talk?”, but it wasn’t his               of their baby fingers. Kururu's measures sixteen centimeters, while Kororo's
     toy. It was a fairy called Tim, who is 422 years old and looks after children who                measures fourteen centimeters. Added together, the total length is thirty cen-
     are afraid of the dark and can’t sleep. Tim tells Kai that when you close your                   timeters. When they put their pinkies together, the width is two centimeters.
     eyes, you can see places you’ve never been to and things you’ve never seen                       Using their fingers, they measure the length of the ribbon they bought and
     before.                                                                                          find that it is one meter long. Excited by this discovery, they decide that sixteen
        Kai closes his eyes, and when he opens them again on Tim’s signal, he is in                   centimeters is one kururu, fourteen centimeters is one kororo, and one meter is
     the Jurassic world of the dinosaurs. He rides on an iguanadon’s back and is                      one ribbon and start measuring the length of everything in the park using their
     targeted by a pterosaur. Now he can’t wait for night to come! On the second                      hands and fingers. How long is the lost kitten’s tail? How tall is the clown’s hat?
     night, he rides a ghost train through outer space, and crosses the milky way in                  How wide is the gingko tree’s trunk? By the end, Kururu and Kororo are best
     a ghost ship. On the third night, he plays cops and robbers with some playing                    friends! At the bottom of the cover page is a life-size picture of a ruler, while on
     cards. This humorous and magical bedtime fantasy gracefully captures the feel-                   the last page are ideas for using parts of the body to measure things.
     ings of a boy who likes dinosaurs as he is guided to independence by an excit-                      The story is engaging while introducing creative ways for children to discover
     ing sense of adventure. (Nogami)                                                                 the fun of measuring different things such as the span of both hands or the
                                                                                                      length of a single stride. (Shiozaki)

                                                                                                                                                                                              9
33                              Garden of Wonder                                                  34                                   Robert, the Cat Pediatrician
                                   (あららのはたけ/ Arara no hatake)                                                                              ( ね こ の 小 児 科 医 ロ ー ベ ル ト / Neko no shonikai
                                     Muranaka, Rie | Illus. Ishikawa, Eriko | Kaiseisha | 2019 | 216                                        Roberuto)
                                     pp. | 21 x 16 cm | ISBN 9784035309505 | Ages 9+ | Fields,                                              Kiji, Kaeko | Illus. Igarashi, Daisuke | Kaiseisha | 2019 |
                                     Letters, Bullying, Nature                                                                              72 pp. | 21 x 19 cm | ISBN 9784033137704 | Ages 9+ |
                                                                                                                                            Cats, Pediatricians, Families

                                       This story unfolds through the letters exchanged be-                                                 One night, Yuki’s two-year-old brother Yu sud-
                                       tween ten-year-old Eri, who has moved to Yamaguchi,                                                  denly vomits as he sleeps next to her, and he
                                       and her friend Emi left behind in Yokohama. Through                                                  complains of stomach pain. Their parents don’t
                                       these letters we learn how Eri’s grandfather has given                                               know what to do and can’t decide whether to
          her a small patch of land where she grows strawberries and herbs. She writes all                  call an ambulance.
          her thoughts to Emi, like how vigorously all the weeds grow even if you step on                      Then, Yuki finds an entry in the phonebook for “Robert Matsuda, Emergency
          them; about a spider that only spins a temporary web when it senses a typhoon                     Night Pediatrician,” which is somehow glowing. Yuki finds this odd but calls the
          is about to hit; how her face swelled up when stung by hairs from caterpillars                    number. Soon, a doctor arrives on a small motorbike, wearing a small helmet
          on the peach tree; and the feeling of being in contact with nature. The reader                    and goggles. Dismounting in his white coat, he turns out to be a black and
          can appreciate the fresh amazement and wonder that a city-raised child feels                      white cat! The cat doctor diagnoses a rotavirus, has Yu drink a rehydration so-
          upon moving to the countryside.                                                                   lution, and tells the family what to do in case of further symptoms. Everyone is
             Emi tells Eri how she has studied about spiders and caterpillars thanks to her                 relieved. But the next morning, Yuki’s parents don’t remember the pediatrician
          letters, and also about their classmate Kenji, who now won’t leave his bedroom.                   at all! “Dr. Robert Matsuda helped us!” Yuki insists. “If it’s Robert you mean, he’s
          Kenji has been their friend since they were little, and they are both worried                     over there,” Yuki’s mother says, pointing at a cat asleep in the living room.
          about him.                                                                                           Was the whole thing a dream? Yuki begins to doubt herself, but a week later,
              Other people in their lives include Eri’s grandfather, who emphasizes learn-                  she wakes to see Robert talking on a cell phone and changing into his white
          ing from experience and only tells her what to do after she has made a mistake;                   coat. Robert does not return after that house call, and soon everyone but Yuki
          a new transfer pupil Marumo, who sticks to her own ways without realizing                         forgets him. A fantasy that skillfully explores the mysteries only children can
          the pressures on her to change; and Kazuki, who bullied Kenji but deep down                       see. (Shiozaki)
          wants to apologize.
             It is interesting to see how in this day and age Eri and Emi deepen their con-
          nection not by telephone or email, but by letters, and the story ends on a re-
          freshing note when a frog jumps out of a box of vegetables that Eri sends Kenji,
          prompting him to step outside and begin to change. This book won the Joji
          Tsubota Prize. (Sakuma)

     35                            Angel’s Baggage                                                     36                           Artificial Soul
                                  (天使のにもつ/ Tenshi no nimotsu)                                                                      (つくられた心/ Tsukurareta kokoro)
                                   Ito, Miku | Doshinsha | 2019 | 224 pp. | 20 x 14 cm | ISBN                                       Sato, Madoka | Illus. Urata, Kenji | Poplar | 2019 | 176 pp. | 20
                                   9784494020553 | Ages 11+ | Work-experience program, Mid-                                         x 13 cm | ISBN 9784591162057 | Ages 11+ | Near Future, An-
                                   dle school, Nursery school                                                                       droid, Doubt

                                   Futa is in eighth grade and has to choose a workplace                                              The story is set in the near future. A newly established
                                   to visit for five days as part of his class work-experi-                                           model school not only offers small classes and high-
                                   ence program. None of the options offered appeal to                                                tech facilities but also has a super security system to
                                   him, but he chooses the Angel Nursery School assum-                                                prevent cheating, bullying and violence. Each class has a
          ing that he will spend his time playing with children. Things he never imagined                   guard-droid that looks and behaves just like one of the students, but is actually
          begin to happen once he starts. The lively children refuse to leave him alone                     an android programmed with the same intelligence as a human and equipped
          even when he escapes into the washroom, and the teacher keeps giving him                          with a built-in mike and camera through which the school can watch over the
          more work to do. Although Futa claims he is a sloppy guy who leaves jobs half                     students. The androids each have their own personality and are indistinguish-
          done and isn’t interested in anything, it gradually becomes clear that he is a                    able from humans.
          kind and sensitive young man.                                                                        Mika comes to this new school with great expectations and makes friends
              He cares for an abandoned puppy in his apartment complex even though                          with three students sitting near her. The students are forbidden to look for the
          he knows pets are against the rules. He worries about Shion, a five-year-old                      guard-droid, but Mika’s class secretly tries to find out. Mika starts suspecting
          boy at the nursery school who seems strangely attached to him, and about his                      everyone. She and her group of friends visit the home of a girl who appears
          relationship with his mother. As he struggles to overcome various challenges,                     suspicious and closely observe a boy who never gets out of breath even when
          Futa begins to grow and change. His inner kindness, of which he is unaware, is                    he runs a marathon.
          drawn out by the nursery school teachers, Makun who is three years his senior,                       But perhaps the guard-droid is really one of Mika’s friends. Are their smiles
          and the nursery school children. The way the adults and Makun interact with                       fake? Is one of them being operated by remote control and just pretending to
          Futa and affirm his individuality is particularly heartwarming. The children’s                    have feelings? Is it all an act?
          acceptance of Futa as one of their own demonstrates how discerning children                          In the end, the students find out that even the guard-droid doesn’t know
          can be. The good feeling generated by the book lingers long after the reader is                   who the droid is, and its identity is never revealed. The author vividly conveys
          finished. (Shiozaki)                                                                              the frightening nature of a society in which everyone is watched and where it is
                                                                                                            impossible to tell the real from the fake. Artificial Soul warns us that the human
                                                                                                            mind could one day be subdued and controlled. (Sakuma)

10
Recent Chapter Books and Novels

37                           August Light                                                      38                            Happy Tokoi
                            (八月のひかり/ Hachigatsu no hikari)                                                                 (ゆかいな床井くん/ Yukai na Tokoi-kun)
                             Nakajima, Nobuko | Chobunsha | 2019 | 128 pp. | 20 x 13 cm |                                    Tomori, Shiruko | Kodansha | 2018 | 192 pp. | 20 x 14 cm |
                             ISBN 9784811326061 | Ages 11+ | Families, Summer, Poverty,                                      ISBN 9784065139059 | Ages 11+ | School, Point of view, Hu-
                             Food, War                                                                                       mor

                               One August day, hot from first thing in the morning,                                          This novel vividly portrays a year in the class of two
                               fifth grader Miki hangs laundry on the porch, slices car-                                     Japanese sixth-grade students: Koyomi, a girl, and
                               rots and cabbage, and makes grilled soba noodles to                                           Tokoi, a boy.
                               eat with her second-grade brother Yuuki. Yuuki gulps                                              One episode unfolds per chapter. In one episode,
     his portion of five bites, and Miki gives him her one bite. The two of them don’t              a boy named Toya blurts out that a student teacher has large breasts. In an-
     have enough to eat. They go hungry for hours, but they never tell their mother.                other, a girl named Omori realizes in the school bathroom that she’s gotten her
     Their father, who was once kind, quit his job and began playing pachinko con-                  period and doesn’t know what to do. Another girl, Suzuki, can speak freely at
     stantly. Then he started hitting their mother, and when Yuuki was three, he left.              cram school but struggles to speak at school. Katsuta’s father has lost his job
         Miki and Yuuki’s mother works as a supermarket cashier, but her body is                    and unfortunately takes his stress out on her, so she takes her stress out on her
     weak, and she can’t handle long hours. With little income, the family of three                 classmates. Many different stories fill the class.
     barely scrapes by. Miki takes her mother’s place cooking refrigerator leftovers                    For her part, Koyomi is the tallest student and has been called “Giant” and
     into daily meals, but food runs low. Electricity costs money, so the family runs               “Amazon Woman,” but the shortest student in the class, Tokoi, once expressed
     the air conditioner just an hour a day.                                                        jealousy of her, saying, “I wish I could be tall.” Now, nobody makes fun of
         Yuuki tells Miki that at school, he’s been teased: “You’re basically living on             height. Koyomi often feels pressured by classmates but dislikes playing along
     school lunch, aren’t you?” “Do you ever take a bath?” Miki’s been told the same.               with them; in contrast, Tokoi voices his thoughts freely and finds the good in
     Their mother was born when their grandmother was only 18, unmarried, and                       everyone. Koyomi gradually comes to admire Tokoi; when something hap-
     grew up in poverty herself. The cycle seems unbreakable. In the midst of this,                 pens, she considers it, observes Tokoi’s reaction, and takes a step toward trying
     Miki and Yuuki’s determination and the support of one friend of Yuuki’s and his                someone else’s point of view.
     dad, is what keeps them going. The end of the book includes the note, “In Ja-                      Humorously narrated and filled with the appeal of Tokoi, this book keeps
     pan today, one in seven children under 17—about 2.7 million young people—                      readers turning pages and offers them the appeal of new viewpoints. Winner of
     can be found living in poverty.” This novel brings their struggle to life. (Nogami)            the Noma Children’s Literature Prize. (Sakuma)

39                              Kofuji the Cat: Number 3 Ash Street                            40                           Luna and Sango
                               (ねこのこふじさん/ Neko no Kofujisan)                                                               (月と珊瑚/ Runa to Sango)
                                Yamamoto, Kazuko | Illus. Ishikawa, Eriko | Alice-kan | 2019                                Kamijo, Sanae | Kodansha | 2019 | 176 pp. | 20 x 14 cm | ISBN
                                | 168 pp. | 21 x 16 cm | ISBN 9784752008934 | Ages 11+ |                                    9784065162224 | Ages 11+ | Okinawa, Military bases, Family,
                                Cat, Event, Stay-at-home, Diversity                                                         Friendship

                                   Kofuji the cat once worked very hard at an advertis-                                      Sango Oshiro is in the sixth grade at an elementary
                                   ing company. When her coworkers began to treat                                            school in Okinawa. Her name, which means “coral,” was
                                   her coldly, however, she quit her job. Now she stays                                      chosen by her grandmother in honor of the coral, as
                                   at home, never leaving the house. One day, however,                                       well as the blood and tears, upon which the island of
     her grandmother asks her to take care of her house on Ash Street while she                     Okinawa was built . But the Chinese characters for “sango” are quite difficult,
     travels around the world. Instead of rent, she asks Kofuji to plan a monthly                   and Sango, who hates studying, has trouble writing her name. Her classmate
     event, each one befitting the month in which it is held.                                       Shion Mizuhara teases her about this. To improve her writing ability, Sango de-
        Although reluctant at first, Kofuji plans a picnic under the cherry blossoms in             cides to keep a diary. Through her entries, we learn what happened in Okinawa
     April, a seasonal change of clothing in May, plum juice-making in June, a star                 during and after World War II and the issues surrounding the American military
     festival in July, fireworks in August, moon viewing in September, chestnut gath-               bases on the island.
     ering in October, a festival for children aged three, five and seven in November,                Because Sango’s mother, a hair dresser, works in Kyushu, Sango lives with her
     wreath making in December, making traditional New Year’s dishes in January,                    grandmother who performs traditional Okinawan songs in pubs. But they are
     bean throwing in February, and a dolls’ festival in March. The neighbors on                    so poor that Sango cannot afford a smartphone like her friends and sometimes
     Toneriko Street are a diverse group of characters. There is a tapir who moved                  has to use a meal program for disadvantaged children that charges only one
     back from overseas and thinks she has to conform to fit in, a young fox who                    hundred yen (about US$1.00 ) per meal.
     throws tantrums because she’s upset that her mother has a new fox cub, and                       American fighter jets frequently fly over the school with a deafening roar that
     an elderly monkey living on his own. Through her interactions with these dif-                  throws Shion into a panic but sets the boys guessing the type of aircraft from
     ferent neighbors, Kofuji gradually perks up and by the end of the year, she has                the engine sound. The great-grandmother of Sango’s classmate has been ar-
     decided to start weaving traditional textiles.                                                 rested numerous times for demonstrating against the construction of a military
         Each monthly event is described by Nezumori, the postmouse who lives in                    base in Henoko. When Sango learns that her own great-grandmother was
     the cupboard of her house. His own story also unfolds within this book, and the                forced to work in the brothels due to poverty, she is devastated. She is helped,
     last scene is his wedding, which is attended by all the characters who have ap-                however, by the arrival of Luna Izumi, a student who transfers in from another
     peared, including Kofuji’s grandmother who has returned from her travels.                      area. This ambitious work sheds light on the history of war, the vicious cycle of
     With one story per chapter and plenty of illustrations, the book is easy and en-               poverty, the background to the military bases in Okinawa, and the current situ-
     tertaining even for children unused to reading. (Sakuma)                                       ation. (Nogami)

                                                                                                                                                                                            11
41                             Someday, a Sun Ship                                              42                            Star Traveler:
                                  (いつか太陽の船/ Itsuka taiyo no fune)                                                                  Tadataka Ino and the Legendary Ghost Fish
                                    Muranaka, Rie | Illus. Koshida, Mika | Shin Nihon Shuppansha |                                (星の旅人 伊能忠敬と伝説の怪魚/ Hoshi no tabibito)
                                    2019 | 176 pp. | 20 x 14 cm | ISBN 9784406063371 | Ages 11+                                    Komae, Ryo | Komine Shoten | 2018 | 288 pp. | 20 x 14 cm |
                                    | Tohoku 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami, Family                                                   ISBN 9784338081627 | Ages 11+ | Edo period (1603-1868),
                                                                                                                                   Maps, Hokkaido

                                    This story is about a family who moved to Nemuro in                                             In the year 1800, a 56-year-old man named Tadataka
                                    Hokkaido following the great earthquake and tsunami                                             Ino walked the island of Hokkaido in order to survey
                                    that hit their hometown of Kesennuma, Miyagi prefec-                                            and map it for the first time. This documentary-like
                                    ture, six years earlier in 2011, narrated from the per-                                         novel follows a fictional 12-year-old boy named Heiji
          spective of eleven-year-old Kaito. Kaito’s father is a boat builder, and he shows               who travels with Ino on this journey. Heiji’s reason for accompanying Ino is that
          the local youths the techniques he uses. Kaito and his six-year-old brother                     he received news that his father died in Hokkaido, and he wants to confirm this
          Hikaru attend the local elementary school, which has only 13 pupils. At school                  with his own eyes. Ino’s real son, Shuzo, is on the journey, too, and appears in
          they have to draw a picture of a mackerel pike, and their drawings will be made                 the story.
          into a calendar to sell at the festival. However, Kaito is terrified of the fish’s eyes            Ino runs into trouble crossing the Tsugaru Strait between Japan’s main island,
          and can’t bear to look at it. One day, his mother disappears, and Kaito and his                 Honshu, and Hokkaido; he also struggles with measurements for the map. For
          father go to his grandmother’s house in Sendai in search of her. When they find                 his part, using a piece of wood given him by an indigenous Ainu person, Heiji
          her there, she tells them she has been trying so hard to keep her life going that               finds a letter from his father and learns that he fell off a cliff and was picked up
          she is worn out. She had come to see Granny out of a need to reconnect with                     in nearby waters by a Russian vessel.
          people she holds dear.                                                                              At the end of each section of the book, a column with text and diagrams
              Before returning to Nemuro, the three of them go to Kesennuma and his                       presents background information on Ino’s life; early studies of the West by Jap-
          father vows to rebuild his boat-building workshop. However, Kaito feels that                    anese; and the fine reputation of Ino’s Hokkaido map today. In one memorable
          Nemuro is home too, and he studies mackerel pike so that he can draw them.                      passage of the book, Ino—who only became a scholar at age 50, yet left a sig-
          He sees thin seagulls swallowing the fish, the catch being brought in as the sun                nificant legacy—scolds Heiji for filling in blanks in mapping logs with numbers
          comes up, and visions of boats and Spanner, the dog they lost in the disaster.                  that seem apt. “Filling in numbers you want doesn’t make them right!”
          Finally he is able to draw a picture of a fish.                                                     This book can function as a biography of Ino, an introduction to the Edo
              A Vietnamese trainee whose father used to work in Nemuro comes to see                       period, and even an absorbing primer on cartography. In addition, with Heiji as
          Kaito’s father’s workshop, prompting us to consider what family means. Kaito’s                  the main character, the book reads as a story of sons and fathers: Shuzo and
          thoughts about life and death are symbolically portrayed through the seagulls                   Ino, Heiji and his missing father. The ghost fish in the subtitle turns out to the
          that appear throughout the book. The bold illustrations in India ink provide a                  be shape of the cliff where Heiji discovers his father’s letter. (Doi)
          lively portrayal of people going energetically about their lives. (Doi)

     43                             Tokujiro and I                                                   44                             Cabinet of Curiosities: A Fascinating Museum
                                   (徳治郎とボク/ Tokujiro to boku)                                                                      (ヴンダーカンマー/ Vunderkammer)
                                    Hanagata, Mitsuru | Rironsha | 2019 | 240 pp. | 19 x 14 cm |                                    Kashizaki, Akane | Rironsha | 2018 | 240 pp. | 19 x 14 cm |
                                    ISBN 9784652203057 | Ages 11+ | Grandfather, Family, Death                                      ISBN 9784652202845 | Ages 13+ | Work experience, Muse-
                                                                                                                                    ums, Friendship, Discovery

                                       The story follows the relationship of a boy and his                                          This story is about a day’s work experience at a mu-
                                       grandfather, Tokujiro. Stubborn and cantankerous                                             seum undertaken by five children (two boys and three
                                       Tokujiro is a widower who lives alone and is hard of                                         girls) in year two of middle school. The placing was
                                       hearing. He has three daughters including the boy’s                                          decided at the last minute and, not having any idea of
          mother but when they and their families come to visit during the summer,                        what work they will be doing, the children are not very enthusiastic. On the day,
          Tokujiro just sits silently in front of the TV.                                                 they draw lots to decide who will do what: Ikumi, who isn’t good at anything
              Yet this same taciturn and difficult old man teaches the boy how to make                    and lacks confidence in himself, gets fish; Renka, a spoiled girl with an over-
          bamboo-copters, takes him beetle hunting in the woods, and teaches him the                      protective mother, gets vertebrate paleontology; Madoka, a loudmouth from
          wonders of nature. The boy is fascinated by his grandfather’s stories. Born in                  the girls’ basketball club, gets birds; Chie, an introverted girl who is shy with
          1923, the year of the Great Kanto Earthquake, his grandfather was a rebellious                  everyone, gets mammals; and Manabu, a straight A-seeming student who finds
          boy of whom even his parents despaired. Although a poor student, he excelled                    it hard to live up to his nickname of “Prof,” gets inanimate objects. Once their
          at sports. He and his friends had dangerous stone-throwing fights and snuck                     jobs have been decided, they split up to go to their relevant departments.
          into other people’s fields and orchards to steal tomatoes, loquats and oranges.                     Each recounts their experience in a chapter of their own, describing their
          If they had been caught, they would have met a horrible fate, Tokujiro tells the                job and their exchanges with the experts, curators, and volunteers they meet
          boy.                                                                                            in the course of their work. They all have new experiences and make discover-
              The life of this stubborn old man whom the boy loves dearly is vividly and                  ies, and grow a little as a result. While the day is described from the different
          richly portrayed from the boy’s perspective, including the old man’s gradual de-                perspectives of the five children, the author has skillfully created an overall flow
          mise after a heart attack. The man’s boyhood and way of living overlap with the                 by using names as a key to the story, and by including similar scenes in all the
          family’s history, linking with the boy’s present life. Tokujiro’s unique approach               chapters, such as discussions during the lunch break.
          to living is scrupulously portrayed through his interactions with his grandson,                    The term Cabinet of Curiosities comes from the German word Wunderkam-
          his experiences during the war, and the family’s response to nursing him after                  mer, which refers to a room in which rare articles from all over the world are
          his heart attack. Each memory of Tokujiro is a precious gift that enriches the                  displayed, and was the forerunner of museums. This book conveys the charm
          boy’s life. (Nogami)                                                                            and role of the museum, and the people who work there are extremely con-
                                                                                                          vincing. (Shiozaki)

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